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23 November 2011

Give thanks!

Amerence of Amerence Love WoW has come up with a wonderful event for this year's Pilgrim's Bounty. She's encouraging bloggers to give thanks, be it with a picture, story, or short note, to their fellow bloggers during the week of November 19th. Giving has its own rewards, as well, because a team of judges will pick the top three posts and distribute some wonderful prizes! Get all the important details here at her site; there's still time to participate!

I sort of dread calling people out by name, because inevitably someone will be left out and I'll feel terrible, so just assume that if you are on the list at the right or have ever commented on my blog, YOU ARE APPRECIATED AND LOVED. That having been said!

A Very Beko Thanksgiving and bonus materials behind the cut! -----A Very Beko Thanksgiving

The tables were dressed, chairs tucked
in and candles waiting to be lit. Upwind of the tables were the
cookfires, which Akabeko now went to inspect. She passed Maurene, who
was arranging the autumnal centerpiece on the children's table, and
motioned for her to follow.

They met Iharu, who was standing
nonchalantly by the spits, watching the plucked plainstriders rotate.
The birds dripped juice into the fire, which sizzled and emitted a
mouthwatering scent.

“I am really hungry,” Iharu
muttered, half to herself, staring blindly at the line of golden
birds over their fires.

Maurene wrinkled her nose. “I don't
know what you see in cooked fowl, but those,” she nodded towards
where the guild rogues were eagerly mashing up sweet potatoes, “look
appetizing. Dug out of the ground, mashed up; that's the right idea.”

Iharu came out of her reverie. “You
know they get cooked up with sugar and honey, don't you?”

“They what?!” Maurene looked
affronted. “Why would anyone ruin perfectly good food with
seasoning?” She spluttered, frowned, and looked longingly at the potatoes.

“Calm down, Maurene,” Akabeko said
absently. “You know that I had them prepare a special mushroom dish
just for you.” She looked around furtively. “Iharu, how are we
doing on the...project?”

Iharu sidled casually over to a
preparation table, where the cooked plainstriders were being dressed
for the meal. She indicated two nearly-finished birds on the end of
the table with a meaningful glance. “These look really delicious,”
she said unnecessarily, to throw off suspicion. The guildmates moving
around the table looked at her in confusion.

“You could...help,”
suggested another paladin snidely.

“Oh, how silly of me. Of course,”
she acquiesced, and began to attend to the plainstriders she had
shown to Akabeko. No one noticed her uncharacteristic helpfulness.

Akabeko stepped away. “I am going to
set out name cards,” she said, too loudly. A few guildmates looked
up in acknowledgement before going back to their own tasks. She moved
among the tables, setting out the heavy cards, decorated with leaves
by the druids, then labeled in a guildmate's artistic hand. There
was relatively little wind in the shadow of the mesas of Thunder
Bluff, so the cards would be fine until the meal. Akabeko checked the
sun; it was midday, and the feast would not begin for another hour or
so. There was plenty of time.

Maurene stalked to where the sweet
potatoes were being prepared, trying and failing to surreptitiously
carry a picnic basket. She seized a bowl of the finished product,
covered with a ceramic lid, and placed it ungraciously in the basket.
One of the children helping noticed his, and she stuck her tongue out
at him until he turned away in fright. She moved to the next table,
repeating the theft with string beans, then again with a loaf of corn
bread. At the cranberry table, she was too slow, and the chef in
charge saw her abscond with a plate of jiggling cranberry jelly.

Akabeko heard the cry from where she
was artfully arranging a seating chart of her favorite druids,
conveniently placed by the table of her closest correspondents. “Just
what do you think you're doin'?”

“I need this for my centerpiece!”
Maurene replied arrogantly, drawing herself out of her slouch and to
her full height. This did not have a menacing effect, as the chef was
himself a troll and significantly taller at his
full height.

“What
do you be needin' jelly for? That's for eatin', not displayin'!”

Maurene scoffed. “Of course
it's for eating; it's an edible centerpiece! I wouldn't expect
someone so obviously lacking in creativity to understand, though.”
She gave him a disdainful look, then walked away before he could
think of a comeback.

During this
exchange, Akabeko had located her other cohorts and signaled them to
assemble in their previously-determined locations. She moved back to
the cookfires, where Iharu had finished dressing the birds and was
standing protectively over them, pretending to make finishing
touches. Maurene appeared with her picnic basket, and nodded to an
undead mage who had also arrived. They clustered together, awkwardly
trying to appear as if they were not waiting for something.

Suddenly, a voice
rang across the clearing, amplified by magic. “Hey! Do you guys
want to see a great magic trick?” On the opposite side of the
tables, directing attention away from the spits, were a priest and a
warrior.

“Time
to go, Katz,” Akabeko muttered, practically vibrating with
anticipation. The mage began to cast a portal.

“It's
a really neat trick!” the priest continued. He walked away from the
warrior, who grinned at the audience.

“Ready
for transport!” Katza hissed, stepping away from the portal.
Akabeko and Iharu stepped forward and grabbed the two plainstriders.

“Hug!”
cried the priest, using his powers to fly the warrior across the gap
and into his arms.

“Aww,
no, you said you weren't going to actually hug
me...” the warrior was protesting, squirming against the priest's
taller frame as the four women hurried into the portal.

They stepped out of
the portal into a serene forest, the sound of halfhearted applause
fading behind them. Directly ahead they could see tables, similarly
decorated to their own feast, and beyond that humans and night elves
moving among their own cookfires.

“You
weren't kidding about close,” Akabeko muttered, watching a gnome
with enormous pink pigtails set down jugs of ale on the feast tables.
She was crouched, awkwardly contorted to hold the plainstrider. “Any
closer and we would probably be pincushions now.”

“It's
less distance for you to run with that ridiculous bird,” Katza shot
back. “You could have taken a zeppelin and gotten here next week!”

Maurene snorted.
“Are we going to do this or what? They will probably be sitting
down to eat soon as well.”

Katza rolled her
shoulders. “All right, the invisibility should last long enough for
us to get to the tables and back. No dawdling, and be prepared to run
like hell!” She shook her hands as if drying them to cast the spell, then took off
towards the feast tables. The group followed close behind.

Akabeko and Iharu
set down their platters, then turned to help Maurene unload the
picnic basket.

“Light,
Maurene, how did you carry all this?” Iharu exclaimed quietly as
they removed dish after dish.

All three
immediately pinned her hands to her sides, chorusing, “No fel
fire!”

Katza opened her
hands, tendrils of fire extending from her palms to the food. “How
about just regular fire?”

“And
the finishing touch...” Akabeko removed a handwritten card from her
pocket and set it atop the nearest plainstrider. “Hopefully they
understand my Common.”

A shout went up,
and the four looked up sharply to see a draenei woman with dark,
curly hair looking curiously at them. Behind her was a line of night
elves. Akabeko had time to notice a stocky dwarf hefting his mace
hesitantly before they were off, running frantically to escape the
Alliance.

Maurene was
glowing, green flames running up her arms and around her head. “Fel
fire!” she cheered hoarsely, turning in anticipation of attacks
from their rear. Iharu grabbed her roughly by the arm and sprinted
ahead.

“No
fel fire!”

Katza had blinked
ahead as soon as they were discovered, and Akabeko shifted in order
to catch up to her. “I think I saw one of those night elf blokes
waving,” Katza said conversationally, risking a glance over her
shoulder.

Akabeko shifted
back in order to respond. “I have plenty of connections with
Alliance druids, which is why I wanted to share the meal in the first
place,” she panted. “That doesn't mean they won't shoot first,
ask questions later.”

“I
don't think they're following!” Iharu called from behind them.
Katza stopped and immediately began to cast a portal. They tumbled
through, crashing into each other in their haste, and ended up in a
graceless heap right where they had left Mulgore.

The priest and the
warrior were waiting. The warrior bounced on his toes and began
speaking before they had sorted themselves out. “You wouldn't
believe what happened while you were gone!” He pointed to the feast
tables, where guests were gathering and harried hosts were bringing
platters too and fro. “A bunch of gnomes showed up and left behind
a feast, then ran away!”

The priest shook
his head. “I just don't understand why they were shouting 'Lilli,
lilli'!”

-----

As an added bonus, because I am weird, I made some gifs of myself baking that Harvest Bread from the Gamer's Fridge. My camera battery ran out before I got to the fruit and the actual baking, so you miss out on me wildly chopping cranberries while they fly all over the place, and also the first exceedingly crispy loaf that came out. Next time!

You continuously take sweetness to a whole new level. There is so much to comment on here with your post. And for the sake of getting Angelya, Navimie, & you finalized and published for Part 2 I will attempt a brief commentary for your much beloved Tauren Druid self.

Always gracious &Kind hearted.Amusing with your posts.Beautiful in your crafting of words &Ever ready to engage the community.Kicking the stereotypes of a Horde Tauren &Occupying the hearts of your friends & readers.

Keep up the great work and being a shining example of a Druid of the Plains that even Elune would smile upon with pride.

P.S. Seriously awesome video captures of the yumminess that Edenvale inspired you to make. Plus 50 points to cooking skills.

@kamalia: The guildie priest in question has his Lifegrip set to emote "huts [target]!" when he uses it. It is my favorite thing!! You got most of the references :D The 'druid bloke' was Draccus, and the correspondents Akabeko is putting at the table are the Hordeside bloggers :B

@Draccus: D'awww thank you! I feel all warm and fuzzy now. I have to ask - what is the stereotype of a Horde tauren??? :D I am intrigued!

@Navi: Thank youuu :D I think I'm the only one at this point who still calls myself Beko, and it's because my first GL was Akatosh, so we had to become Tosh and Beko to differentiate. Aka is just fine :)

What!? I almost missed this post, sorry I've been to rough situation at the moment. and wasn't able to update the list and missed it, Anyway, Great post as always Aka! and Thank you for all your kind thoughts! I really appreciate how really great a community we got here. Good Luck with your entry! I can't thank everyone enough how this event is so successful, without you guys this won't be possible at all! So Thank you! =)